JANE BOOTH

Gardeners and farmers, what an extraordinary lot we are. We don’t mind getting dirty. We wear soil as a badge of honor — with dirt on our hands, under our nails, over our feet and in our hair — we don’t care. Our business is to nurture, and nurture we do. My parents introduced me to the beauty of nature and all she has to offer. Childhood memories include my mother’s effort to bring back abandoned gardens at a newly purchased home. With her sun-bronzed shoulders rising above surrounding flowers, I often found her wearing nothing more than a bra and dirt-streaked Bermudas, her shirt — having been tossed from her perspiring body — the collection point for weeds she was pulling in the heat of the day.